Former First Lady Slams GTA

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New York Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton sides with right-wingers against violent videogames.

By Douglass C. Perry

Hilary Rodham Clinton, D, NY, has taken sides. Apparently, the wrong one. In an article with the Sunday Times, the first-time senator and two-term first lady, said she wants to launch a $90 million investigation into the effects of videogames on children.

Her efforts mirror long-time Senator Joseph Lieberman D, Ct, though this time she has sided with right wing Republicans Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum.

She cites Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto as as a "major threat" to morality in America.

"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them," Clinton said in a statement. "This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different colour or they're from a different place."

Apparenly Clinton is new to the subect of violence in videogames, which first erupted over the finshing moves in Mortal Kombat. Having sex with a prostitute and then running said woman over in GTA is not a goal or mission in the game, leaving that option open to the morality and choice of the gamer. Furthermore, GTA3, which kick-started this new wave of complaints against violence in videogames, came out in 2001, almost four years ago. Clinton's statement appears to be the first part of her bid for the democratic presidential election in 2008.

Clinton's proposed $90 million investigation will study the impact of games and other electronic media on the "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development" of children, reports the Sunday Times.

We'll have more on Clinton's pre-presidential campaign ideas in the near future.